Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) communication networks are particularly useful in network applications where traffic is bursty and where broadband service is required, but is not required constantly. DAMA networks allow for the dynamic allocation and reallocation of bandwidth and network resources based on the communication needs of the network users.
Presently known systems allocate bandwidth based on, inter alia, requests for higher priority service from users. For example, if twenty percent of a network's customers are high-priority users, the network may reserve twenty percent of its bandwidth for high-priority use. If, at any given moment, less than twenty percent of the high-priority bandwidth capacity is being utilized, and a low-priority user requests high-priority service, a typical system would grant that request and allow the low-priority user to consume high-priority network resources, since they are available. This can be problematic, particularly in environments with bursty traffic patterns, because the high-priority network resources employed by tow-priority customers may not be available when needed a short time later by a high-priority user.
A method for allocating network resources is thus needed which is capable of predicting future demand to thereby more efficiently allocate network resources among the competing requests from high-priority and low-priority customers.